No detectable amount of tritium has been found in fish samples taken from waters near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, where the discharge of treated radioactive water into the sea began a month ago, the government said Monday.
Tritium was not detected in the latest sample of two olive flounders caught Sunday, the Fisheries Agency said on its website. The agency has provided almost daily updates since the start of the water release, in a bid to dispel harmful rumors both domestically and internationally about its environmental impact.
The results of the first collected samples were published Aug. 9, before the discharge of treated water from the complex commenced on Aug. 24. The water had been used to cool melted nuclear fuel at the plant but has undergone a treatment process that removes most radionuclides except tritium.
The remaining tritium is then diluted to one-fortieth of the concentration permitted under Japanese safety standards before being released into the Pacific Ocean via an underwater tunnel 1 kilometer from the seaside plant, which was wrecked by the massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
Samples of local fish have been collected at two points within a 5-km radius of the discharge outlet, except during rough weather conditions, with the agency announcing its analysis results on an almost daily basis since Aug. 26.
No tritium was detected in 64 fish, which included flounder and six other species, collected since Aug. 8.
The results are currently available in both Japanese and English, but it remains to be decided whether the agency will change the frequency of its updates or provide them in other languages, such as Chinese.
The agency plans to examine approximately 180 samples by the end of March 2024, with the collection points expected to remain unchanged.
"Due to growing momentum for supporting Fukushima following China's ban on Japanese seafood imports, there appears to have been no significant reputational damage domestically," an agency official said.
the_fungible_man on September 26th, 2023 at 22:28 UTC »
For reference, there are about 2.2 grams of Tritium in the wastewater stored at Fukushima. The planned discharge rate is 62 milligrams per year.
By comparison,
The La Hague reprocessing plant in France discharged 32 grams of tritium into the English Channel in 2018,
Canada's Bruce Nuclear Generating Stations A & B discharged nearly 5 grams of tritium into Lake Huron in 2018,
South Korea's Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant discharged 670 mg. of tritium into the Sea of Japan in 2020.
The outrage aimed at Fukushima is nothing but politically motivated fear-mongering.
Monster_Voice on September 26th, 2023 at 18:49 UTC »
Imagine that... just like the nuclear scientist told us.
Fascinating...
I_Push_Buttonz on September 26th, 2023 at 18:17 UTC »
The 'contaminated' water they are releasing has a fraction of the tritium levels considered safe in drinking water in most countries. Its literally less radioactive than the tap water. And that's before it enters the ocean and gets diluted by several orders of magnitude.
The anti-nuclear lobby should be ashamed for their fear mongering nonsense (IE: lies) over this.